National Security Strategy: The Counternarcotics Effort Revisited 1991

摘要

The proliferation of illicit drugs threatens our nation's security and raisesquestions about how the military can be used to support our nation's strategy to control illicit drugs. The civilian sector, the Administration, Congress, and the military have all wrestled with how best to combat this major social problem. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 represented the first step by the President and Congress to increase military involvement in the counternarcotics effort. Subsequently, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 was passed. In 1989, amendments to Title XI of the Defense Authorization Act assigned the Department of Defense significant new responsibilities in the counternarcotics effort. Further, the amendments enhanced the role of the National Guard in the counternarcotics effort. The National Guard's role in supporting drug law enforcement agencies in the continental United States has received a great deal of attention in recent years. This study project revisits the issues of our country's counternarcotics effort, focusing on the role of the military. Through interviews, research and a survey, the study explores the mood of the nation in determining the amount of support that exists in our country for the use of military forces in controlling illicit drugs. The study provides insights to the critical questions: Does the nation support the use of the military in our effort to control illicit drugs. Does the nation support the President's National Drug Control Strategy.